““...””

「It appears that I was met with mute silence. If anyone else were in their shoes, they’d also most certainly be left frozen in confusion.」

“W-we have to... make… a star like that???”

“Yup, precisely! Exactly like what you see in the sky!”

““HOW?!?!””

“Fufu... I'll show you how...”

「Cradling my hands and condensing the mana of my Od into multiple minuscule white dots, the point of lights formed in suspension above my palms before spreading out around us. It’ll serve as lighting for the meanwhile.」

“I did say, just like the star in the sky. It didn’t have to be as big as the real star like up close.”

““Oh... then you could’ve just said that!!!””

“Instead, I want you two to imagine a much bigger ball of light. Hmmm… about as big as an asteroid first. ‘Kay?”

“Elder Sister, but how do we...?”

“Ahaha… don’t worry, I’ll guide you through the process. First, close your eyes. Visualise the flow of mana within your own Od, concentrate it into your palms and try to create a ball of light in whatever way you feel is right. Think in terms of the light you see coming from the stars.”

「Stretching their hands up to the sky, they began to control their magic with practiced proficiency. Their Ods reacted to their intentions and began circulating mana through themselves.」

““Nnn...””

“Now take the image of the bright star and bring it to life.”

「I should've add that they try to make it glow, but it wasn’t needed at all. After all, massive spheres of light were coalescing above their heads. A bit faint for liking but great enough for their first try.」

“Now dispel your mana.”

““Hai!””

“Good job, that was your first ever Lumen spell!”

「The spheres of light dispersed in the sky as their mana returned to Elyiere. They succeeded in giving shape to their mana, for the first time.」

“That counts as a spell??”

“It sure does, Sora. The definition of a spell is any magic that is given a form. Those huge balls of light counts as spells because they were formed as magic from your own mana.”

「Even though Sora was slightly skeptical, he seemed to have accepted it as they looked at their palms flowing with mana the same colour as their hair. Taking in the feeling of sculpting their mana, Yuki couldn’t help but let out her newfound amazement.」

“Hnnn…???? So this is what it’s like forming magic...”

“All we're really doing is really making our imaginations a reality... YEAAHHH!!!! THAT'S AWESOME!!!”

“LET'S DO IT AGAIN, SORA!!!”

「Raising their hands in excitement, another round of spell casting began. They continued to cast spells for another few minutes as I watched over them. Shortly after, Yuki paused her casting in order to ask me a question.」

“Does this spell have a name?”

“None that I know of, but there are derived spell rites that use this as its base for magical rite compositions.”

“Rites? Spells?? I've been meaning to ask, but Elder Sister, in what way do spells and rites differ?”

“Ahh, right. I’ve yet to tell you what the difference between rites and spells are. Sora, stop casting and listen up.”

“Hai!”

“Spells and rites differ in their intricacies. Spells can be cast by anyone since it takes only a single person to conjure an image, give it a form through mana and synthesise it into real magic. Rites, however, require seals and complex magic configurations. You’ll need to pour lots of mana into it and cast powerful spells that way. The scale of influence is much larger, and you can find these rites almost everywhere. Even technology is handled through rites like lyxions and the Ring on your wrists.”

“Even warpcells and the Cosmonet?”

“Almost everything in Elyiere is. Everything can be done with magic and that’s why it’s so powerful. Oh right, I might as well tell you now why children younger than 8 years of age do not learn magic.”

“Oh!!! Why is that?? It’s so stupiddd!!!”

“Fufu… then tell me, do you think you could survive on a planet close to a star a few years ago without any magic resistance?”

“Ghk!?! N-no… probably not…”

“Not ‘probably’, you would most certainly die in extreme conditions of concentrated mana being present. You aren’t able to control mana all too well when you are young, so you normally start when your Od has grown strong enough to do that. By the age of 8, the Od of children like you normally becomes mature enough to handle powerful magic.”

“But we can easily handle spells already?”

“That’s because your Ods are surprisingly good at controlling mana. So it’s fine for you two to be practising magic. Anyways, let's get back to lumen magic. Try making your spheres smaller this time.”

““Okay!!!””

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

“Haaaaa!!!!!!!! –Aaahh?!?!”

「Yuki failed for 5th time, trying to make her light spheres smaller but it seems that Sora's got those large asteroid-sized spheres down to fit into his hand. Ahhh, to have the advantage of seeing into Elyiere... Yuki will keep having a hard time if she doesn’t learn how to peer into Elyiere and visualise the flow of external mana.」

“Yuki, are you not able to control your mana outside what you yourself can sense??”

“Aa...aa... Elder S-sister... I c-can’t...”

「Yuki seemed like she was about to burst into tears of frustration. I wiped her eyes with a few tissues I brought out with 『Nocht』.」

“H-huh?”

「Covering her right eye with my hand, she mumbled in wonder.」

“Sora, keep going until you can make it as small as you can imagine while Yuki figures out how to look into Elyiere. Go for as small as the stars up in the sky!”

“Okay!”

“Yuki, try channeling your mana into your right eye the same way you did to make the spheres of light. And spread out your mana so that you can see me.”

“Nnn...?!?? What is all this??!!!?? I can see you, but it’s all weird and.... uh...”

“Fufu!!! That’s exactly what it should feel like... Now, do the same for your other eye.”

「Yuki's eyes glowed ever so softly as she glanced around as if she saw the world for the first time once more. The young girl did it so easily…」

“So... this is what Sora and Elder Sister’s been seeing all this time... so pretty...”

“Do your eyes hurt by any chance???”

「She looked like she was about cry again, but it appears that it wasn’t the case…」

“No, I'm just annoyed how I didn’t think of this earlier.... muguguguu... And Sora's terrible at explaining how he does it!!! No wonder I've never been able to look into Elyiere and… Woaahhhh!!!! I’ve never seen all this before!!!”

“Eh, it’s my fault?!?”

「While Yuki was in curio of the cosmos, Sora exclaimed at Yuki’s accusation, diverting his focus and disrupting his mana control. Causing the light to disperse, the accumulated energy was released in an out-of-control burst. Forming a tiny crater, Sora was pushed back by the halo of mana sending debris flying in all the cardinal directions.」

“Sora, don’t try to replicate the heat of the stars yet... You might even end up destroying this moon if you can’t handle your mana properly.”

“Ahh, my bad...”

“Instead, try to make it brighter, not hotter!”

“Hai!”

“Yuki, try doing it now.”

“Hai!”

「The next few hours were spent trying to miniaturise their spheres of light as much as possible. Eventually they got there.」

“Hah... Hah...”

「Exhausted, they’d used up all their mana by now and fried their minds with all the intense imagination, most likely…」

“Alright, let’s have a break. Or do you want to stop for the time being??”

“No… let’s stop... and do more... later...”

“Yeah... please... Elder Sister...”

“Hmm... I don’t know... we can’t do this all too often since we might get found out.”

“Ahhh... right...”

“Completely forgot...”

“Then, come back tomorrow.”

「We’d continue our Elemental Magic sessions the next day. That being said, I translocated us all back to my planet in the habitable zone and called it a day. Once they had rested up, they went their way back to their abodes elsewhere within the Inner Sanctum.」

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「31st of Myra, Year 724.

Sora and Yuki have successfully managed to condense their spheres of light down to a point and made it brighter. Technically, they were able to make stars in the palm of their hands now. Well, they aren’t stars of course since they’d need to be made of plasma. Just sources of light that can be made brighter. Not like Sora and Yuki would know that.

It seems like the perfect time to kick up the difficulty!!」

“Sora, Yuki. Dispel your mana and look up at the host star. As you two can see, that white circle is still up in the sky.”

“Eh?!? Has that been there ever since yesterday???”

“Mhm... it has. I let it float around the star for today. I’ll make that star glow waaaay brighter and you’ll have to do the same! Observe.”

「I had been sitting down on the lunar soil, so I didn’t bother to stand up. Instead, I held out my hand to the star and cast the same spell as I did yesterday on that chthonian planet. But I kept that in my mind so that I didn’t clue them in on what they'd be doing later, but with far harsher complications.

『Lumos Candescere』.

The point-like star swelled up as the corona of the star extended out into space as I ramped up the brightness of its light. Soon enough, it engulfed the circle I designated around it. When it reached the inner circumference, I released my spell and let the light return back to its original magnitude.」

“Is… that it??”

“That's all we have to do?”

“Simple enough, right? You two take turns and try to make the light reach the rim of the circle. Good luck! I'll be watching from my home planet!”

「And so their struggle began with their overconfidence. Hehe, let’s see how long this will take.」

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

“Almost... there!!!!!!!”

“Haaaahh... it’s no use...”

“Gahh!!!....”

「Has it already been a few days? By now they've barely been able to touch the rim of the white circle. Can’t blame them – they almost gave up, thinking of how easy it'd be.」

“What's wrong? Can’t get it out far enough?”

“What the heck's been going on?!?! This is ridiculous!!! This is supposed to be easy as pie!!!”

「They still haven’t realised… I shouldn’t laugh… I really shouldn’t…」

“Ahahahaha!!! Of course not! You two don’t even remember how you're able to cast magic in the first place!!”

「That, and on top of not being able to use magic properly, they’re having to make half the star’s surface area glow up in the sky rather than a meager celestial horizon’s worth of its surface. Think about it. When you can see a part of the star’s surface up close, it’s hardly much compared to half an entire star. Instead, this whole time they were casting stellar-scale magic that was even more powerful what I showed them near the red supergiant.」

“What!? Remember what exactly?!?!?”

“The Awakening of Phantasia. Does it ring a bell??”

“The heck… is that??”

「Casting stellar-scale magic for a week and they've managed to get this far without any direct inference with the mana of Elyiere by simply controlling their mana and unconsciously writing their will into their Od.

Without any sensibility of mana.

How unprecedented was this? Their improvement rate was incredulous.

I wonder what would happen if I undo their memory seal?」

Doki.

““Kkh?!?””

「Heartbeat. Jolted to their cores, the contrast in all visual colours faded for an instant, overcome by phosphenes.」

“Just now, what...”

“Alright! We'll be going back to that chthonian planet!”

「We grasped each other’s hands and translocated back to planet bathing close to the star's corona.」

“Why are we back here again?”

“Sora, cast 『Lumos Candescere』 on the star above you right now.”

“Huh!? That’s impossible!! There’s no way I can do it like how you did!!!”

「Certainly, not like how I did––」

“Sora, if I tell you to do it, you will do it ♡.”

“Mnnn... fine... 『Lumos Candescere』!!! –Wha?!?!”

「––but even brighter. A higher calibre of casting than what I had displayed. For Sora and Yuki, it must have been unbelievable to think that they could cast this sort of magic as simply as that.

But it really was simple. Compared to everything else.

And this is something they’ll need to quickly understand. Magic that may seem complicated could really just be that easy to cast when you actually try it. Then what does that say about magic that’s really and truly on another realm of true complexity? Just how unfathomable could they be?」

“So bright!!! I can’t see!!!”

“No way...”

「Revelling at the blinding light that flooded their view, they were frozen in place. And this time it wasn’t because I conjured a cooling spell. Intense rays gradually diminishing, it easing off and the light spectrum of the red supergiant had redshifted back to normal.」

“Yuki, it’s your turn.”

“Nn! Okay, here goes: 『Lumos Candescere』!!!”

「Once more, the star bleached white and so did everything else in our vision. They did it.」

“We did it!!!”

“Yeah!!!”

「In delight, they raised their hands and high-fived each other.」

“Well done. To think you'd make a star light up even brighter than I could...”

“That's a lie!!! Elder Sister’s better at magic than us so... Ahh!!! I remember now!!”

“Oh, and how did it feel casting magic without being able to form it properly?”

「The regression of their mana perception had hindered them in constructing the same spells they could easily cast otherwise. Returning their memories back, they’d easily be able to call their spells with better proficiency. But effectually, that’s as far as it goes.」

“U-uhh... Elder sister pulled a fast one on us...”

“But without it, we wouldn’t know how to direct mana from our Od and bring it out in the right way... We wouldn’t have known what we were meant to be doing with magic even.”

“Fufu! Now you know why the Awakening of Phantasia is performed on new mages. Anyways, that’s all for Lumen Magic for now. We’ll move on to the other Elements now.”

““Hai!””

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「Keeping this momentum, it’s been more than half a year since their awakening and I have to say, the snow-haired pair were capable enough to enter whichever magic academy they’d want.

Fufu, you heard me right the first time – that meant that they’ve perfectly grasped each of the Six Elements of Magic, within this short expanse of time, to a proficient degree. If one’s magic prowess were all it took, they'd be Ordinaires in no time, however, they lacked in-depth knowledge of the different Elements which came with experience.

Looking back over the months, they were filled with precious moments. Gallivanting to resorts, exploring mana climates, playing around with other children their age, researching many things inside Magical Libraries, hunting Magical Beasts outside the hypercity within the Voids and a repertoire of many other little moments. The list could go on and on.

The days went by as I kept indulging myself in such fleeting moments. Days we would back on. Days that have long since passed. Days we could never hope to return to.

A transient sojourn of happiness.

To think that I would be feeling this way. I wonder what could be in store? Nothing ever lasts and all good things must come to an end. I wonder what my fate may bring upon me this time?

Everything’s gone by so perfectly. Too perfectly, that it was. Hence why it felt like something must have been out of place.

Over the months, they completed all the Elemental trials: Stellar Illumination, Mirage Induction, Waterfall Submersion; Physical Terraformation, Aerated Neutralisation, Void Oscillation.

If one wished to become a mage, one would have to successfully pass one of these trials. It was rare for a mage to ever attempt so many of the trials like Sora and Yuki had while also being able to use each of the Elements freely to an adept level of skill.

Normally, a novice mage would pick up on how to wield a single Element through a single trial only, which they would then dedicate their time to polishing their crafts and abilities.

That would be the case if done under the strict supervision of the Elemental Selection. The Elemental Pact enforces a mage to select a single Element which to be assigned as their main Element.

What does this mean in the long term for the mage?

If a mage uses an Element that’s far away in affinity from their main, the Elemental Pact curtails the mage’s proficiency in the other Elements. The further away the Element from the main, the proficiency of a mage using the other Elements will plummet drastically.

However, within the caveats of the Element Selection, there are a few unaccounted loopholes present in the system.」

“When the time comes where you'll have to choose during the Elemental Selection, create your own choice with a new Element and make it your Isoperium State.”

「Basically, raw mana without being given any Elemental properties. That way, none of the other Elemental forms of magic are not vitiated, cancelling out the handicaps while you gain the ‘blessings of the Emperors’ that ‘strengthen your Element’.

Normally, one would become less potent in using the other Elements after the pact is made. Of course, this gradual change happens because the Elemental Pact deliberately affects the contractor. But that’s not the case with raw mana.」

“You can get away with nominating your Isoperium State as your main?”

“You can. But it’s not something everyone knows about. After all, it’s a heavily byzantine process, and even if you have passed on your selection, you still need to act like your Elemental Magic is specialised.”

「It’s risky taking on this extralegal route. Since it’s so complicated, one would have to adroit contrivance to pull off a rewrite of the Elemental Selection’s constituent rites – at the time of selection, that is. All the while not being caught doing so.

The insane threshold of sophistry required is the reason why this loophole is so esoteric.」

“Hmm... then how does Elder Sister know about something so important?”

“Nope, that's~ a~ secret~ that I can't say~!”

“Tell us!!!”

“No means no~ ~. You'll have to force it out of me!”

“So be it the– !?”

“ –!!!”

「The two of them tensed up as soon as they felt the hostility of someone beyond my magic barrier. Even though I detected her presence nearby, I hadn’t been expecting her to pay us a visit. I don’t know why she’s here like this.」

“Miss Charlotte...”

「I straitened my eyes as I felt the aura of our unexpected guest without much of an idea of what was happening. I didn’t understand what was going on. Why has Miss Charlotte approached us, brimming with such ill intent, I wondered?

Momentously translocating before us, her Od let loose a ferocious wave of mana that could've given a small magical beast a heart attack. Surveying her surroundings, she settled on my countenance with eyes devoid of any emotion before asking in a voice dripping with derision.」

“Ahh, right. Lady Sakuya had been mentoring the young masters in magic. No wonder there was so much mana being used around here.”

“Wait, Miss Charlotte. Before you continue, did you hear what we were conversing about?”

「This… is especially important. I couldn’t care about what happens from here on out, except for how she’d answer.」

“No I did not. Now it’s your turn to answer. Who was it that gave you permission, Lady Sakuya?”

“Huh? Permission? Shouldn’t Miss Charlotte already know th–”

「Before I knew it, Miss Charlotte was right in front of me. In slow motion, the blade of a lyxion sharpened with Miss Charlotte's virago had begun descending onto my left shoulder. Raising my hand, I caught her blade in between my thumb and index finger.

Cracks permeated the surface of my moon as a cloud of dust was swept up from the resultant force being transferred to our surroundings. Nothing was adding up.

Why is Miss Charlotte suddenl–」

“Elder Sister!!”

“Miss Charlotte, what’s going on?!? Why are you suddenly attacking Older Sister!!?”

“I do not recall why I haven’t noticed this earlier. I have already reported this to Lord Amamiya of how you've been doing something you shouldn’t have.”

「Miss Charlotte completely ignored the monochromatic pair and instead, she pressured me with duress. Not too effectively I have to add.」

“Eh...? But didn’t Miss Freya... no way, did she not tell you to keep this a secret?!?”

「Oh no. Ohhhhh no... Never~ mind then~…

It was truly quite effective when I realised that she might be holding herself up to the truth. I should’ve personally made sure that there were no leaks… What the hell is up with the discrepancy of timing anyways, huh?

To think it happens now…

Just why, I wonder…?」

“Of course, my senior Miss Freya did –u...?”

「Transient conflict had subtly tinged her voice. For what reason she paused, I couldn’t have possibly known… but damn it!!」

“Eh?!? S-seriously?!? Then wh–”

““Haaaa!!!!!””

“No, wait, you two...!!! Stay down for a moment...”

““Wha–?!!””

「I pinned Sora and Yuki down with a gravity spell I conjured with the Umbra Element. They were ready to bombard her with Elemental spells but I can’t have them going on a rampage in front of a high-ranking Valier Maid.」

“So what now...? Is my uncle personally coming here to see us?”

“That is correct. Until Lord Amamiya arrives, I am to keep you all in place so that you do not escape. Rather, it’s not even an option for any one of you young masters here.”

「I have sooooooo many questions, but this isn’t the time nor place to be asking!? I need more information to make sense of how this situation came about...

『Illusory Replicata』.

Since Miss Charlotte was within my mana field, I casted an illusion spell that creates a complete substitution of myself in place of the real me. I could freely move about as I pleased since Miss Charlotte wouldn’t be able to detect me.

Taking this opportunity to send a message to Ayame-obasan and Miss Freya, I pretty much complained about what the hell was up with Miss Charlotte taking offence without any prior reason.

【 To Oba-san & Freya-san,

Miss Charlotte told Oji-san about Sora and Yuki's magic training and now he's headed our way. Help? 】

【 I see, if it's what I'm thinking, it can’t be helped since it’s just bad luck. 】

【 We're on our way, Ojou-chan! 】

But it was to no avail. Even their bewilderment was evident in their responses to her sudden intrusion. They were on their way to mediate between us and hopefully resolve whatever the underlying issue there was.

Haaahhh... What a pain. I guess I'll dispel this illusion. There’s no need to keep up the spell any further.」

“Hey Miss Charlotte, what was it that made you snake off to my uncle?”

“There were many Hypercluster mana logs that appeared at one of the Equaliser’s Supercluster Data Centers when field scans on Amamiya were made. So I came over to investigate.”

“Why now?!? Didn’t you already know about that months ago?!”

“That's because... hk–!!”

“ –!?”

「The hell’s up now?!? What’s with that killing intent?? Pushing down with even greater force, I couldn’t compete with her brute strength with just regular physical enhancement. Strafing out of the way, I let it go and her blade lacerated the ground with a deep cut. Miss Charlotte's out of her mind.

But wait.

Lines of flowing bronze were weaving themselves onto her forearms. Accursed rites that shouldn’t have been there. What in the heavens were they?

Kicking off with tremendous force, she approached in a fashion too predictable for a Valier. Shifting through space, I spun in midair above her as I kicked her beneath and through my planet’s moon to the other side. I doubt it had much effect on her since I felt her mantle of mana protect her.

Tch. It didn’t even take half a second for her to translocate back into close-range. Wait, why close-range? Hate to state the obvious, but everything really is off about Miss Charlotte.

She’s not consciously doing this, otherwise none of this would have happened.

Is she underestimating me? No, there’s no way she can afford to do that against me – one with the blood of Kurogane flowing in their veins.

If that’s not the case, then why didn’t she capitulate on mid-range mana barrages? She’s a Valier using magic – she wouldn’t break out of her fighting style just to sacrifice her advantage.

Do I incapacitate her and wait? Or do I keep fighting a pointless battle?

I'll create some distance first. She’s giving me greater priority, so it’d be great if she followed after me. I released the gravity spell restraining Sora and Yuki before translocating to a faraway gas giant. I waited above its atmosphere as Miss Charlotte gave chase.」

“You're free to let loose here. Whatever you are, Miss Charlotte definitely isn’t here as herself.”

“...”

「No answer. By the time she was in sight, multiple meteors were created from mana, tailing her from behind. Eventually they were too many to count and they were hurtling towards me. The meteors were given a tremendous boost in speed as amber mana ripples were sent out. I said ‘tremendous’, but that’s putting it kindheartedly.

The shooting stars fell fast enough to orbit a star in a second, showering me in a rain of destruction.

Since objects made of mana outside of Tera Magic mostly never have any mass, it didn’t take much mana to adjust the velocity of attacks.

But I was surprised how she could accelerate massive objects to such high speed. A whole pack of meteors as well. I’m grateful she didn’t send entire planets conjured with mana instead. They could cover a lot more space, making it harder to dodge and judging from this display of magic, I doubt it would have affected the pool of mana in her Od all too much.

Effortlessly dodging through the meteor shower, Miss Charlotte kept translocating closer and closer to me as she finally came into close range. Another bad decision.

Brandishing her manalyte blade in a vertical arc, it slipped through my phantom afterimage as I shifted through space behind her once more and lightly tapped her back with my palms infused with mana. Exponentially amplifying the force put into the tap with mana, the light touch sent her plummeting into the gas giant. My amethyst mana rippled out from my hand touching her back.

Like stagnant colour drops in water, the gas giant’s fluids had opened a hole in its atmosphere. There was no sign of Miss Charlotte stirring away the nubivagant swirling of debris out any further.

If that’s the case, then I hope she’s no longer able to move. I'll have to make sure she's still conscious from that. After all, I'd disrupted her Od with that palm strike. Immobile, I could sense her floating in a bed of dense clouds.

Falling down into the gas giant, I didn’t bother swimming but rather, I translocated to her unconscious body. I reached out to pick her up in my arms when–」

“『Charlotte, do not move.』”

“Eri-obasama...?? Nha?!!!”

「Crap! How... that’s impossible!!! She couldn’t have–?!?

Looking for the source of my aunt's voice, I let my guard down for a mere moment. I thought if my aunt had forced a direct order on Miss Charlotte, she'd have to obey no matter what upon commandment. But that notion was sent flying when Miss Charlotte struck me in my solar plexus. Blasted to oblivion, I though I might have been sent flying across the star system before my body was abruptly caught by the elastic white gel of mana belonging to Eri-obasama.」

“Charlotte, don’t make me repeat myself.”

「Translocating beside us with palms infused with mana, Eri-obasama properly knocked the life force out of Miss Charlotte by hitting her neck with a karate chop. Falling limp for real this time, she collapsed on the spot as a collateral shockwave of mana rebounded off of her mana mantle.

As merciless as always...

The white gel fell down and uniformly spread out into a solid platform that acted as a foothold. As I touched down on it, Eri-obasama flew over with Miss Charlotte floating alongside her. Eri-obasama had this stern look with a glint of concern, it seemed.」

“Sakuya-chan, are you alright? I'm surprised you could take on an attack from Charlotte and not get injured...”

“Fufu... Sensei just doesn’t know. I've obviously changed over the years at Lacuna. I can handle something as light as that.”

“Ara~ ara, is that so? I'll be looking forward to seeing your progress within our Chiliocosm then. Ah, this won't do. I apologize for Charlotte's rudeness.”

“Oba-sama, that’s a little... actually just forget it. I'm the plain, normal version of myself as of right now, so you don’t have to keep up with that act of formality. I'm more concerned about Miss Char–”

“Sakuya-shan?!! Erin!!! What just happened?!?”

「Ayame-obasan’s voice echoed through the air. She and Miss Freya had translocated into the space above us and landed on the white platform, worrying about what transpired moments before their arrival.」

“I'm fine. More importantly, has Yuuto-ojisan arrived yet?”

“He's still on his way. We have to relocate elsewhere.”

“Lady Eri, allow me to take care of Charlotte.”

“Nhn.”

-════════════════-

「As soon as we translocated back to the chalky silicate moon where Miss Charlotte interrupted Sora and Yuki's training, I realised that it had been ripped apart thanks to its core becoming unstable. It had been exploded to bits and was being reconstructed back to normal as I thought. They should have settled down elsewhere the moment I released my gravity spell.

We moved to that ‘elsewhere’ and it happened to be inside my little throne room.」

-════════════════-

“Sakuya, leave the issue with Miss Charlotte to us. We'll do what we can to find out what’s going on with her. You focus on trying to not get in deep trouble. Put the blame on me if you need to, ‘kay?”

“Un.”

「I sat on my spurious throne while looking up to the open ceiling. If Yuuto-ojisan were to appear, a whole legion of mages would fill the celestial sky.」

“After this, you probably shouldn’t meet with your cousins for some time. Oh, and I think you probably shouldn’t try doing something so bold for a while, alright? There’s already been plenty of chaos erupting everywhere in Lyren. It’s quite a pain having to deal with so many problems.”

“Yeah, of course I know. Oba-san, who do you take me for? That’s a given.”

“Fufu, just making sure. Your uncle should be arriving soon. I'm sure you'll be fine.”

「’Should be arriving soon’, huh?? It didn’t take long for that statement to quickly expire–」

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「–After all, an entire legion of mages did appear in tow with Yuuto-ojisan.」

“Haha...”

“What’s the meaning of this, Your Highness? There’s traces of remaining Elemental Magic.”

「A perspicacious yet young-looking man with silvery white hair stood in front of my throne in a creamy white suit. Glasses of rectangular shape flashed with astute severity, even though he was playing along with my act as a queen up upon her throne.」

“Well... you see...”

“She just struggled in a lively battle against Charlotte, dear. Don’t be too harsh on her!”

「It's not a convincing excuse by any means, but it’ll work. So long my uncle doesn’t realise that all the other previous traces of released mana were siphoned away by me.」

“Hmm? Why is that? Miss Charlotte had meant to restrain you all.”

“Me and Eri will look further into Charlotte’s matter. It seems that this incident may be related to that incident last month. Please take care of those three, Danna-sama.”

“Likewise.”

「Sora and Yuki were taken away by my aunts to the courtyard in front of my palace. Now that my aunts were gone, it’s all up to me on how I overcome this.」

“Did you resist Charlotte-san then, Sakuya-hime?”

“Of course I resisted!! I had no idea why Miss Charlotte was being so tingy all of a sudden!!”

“You claim to not know why. Then why was I informed that Sora and Yuki had grasped their own Elements?”

“Miss Charlotte was probably lying to you?”

“Don’t try it, Sakuya-hime. Then why do they know how to use Elemental Magic?”

“...”

“Why did you teach them Elemental Magic? If this is what you wanted, you should have asked for permission first, Sakuya-hime.”

「As expected, it was a vain attempt at bluffing my way out with mere pretences. For a bona-fide Erydexyal like Yuuto-ojisan, he didn’t even have to look at Sora and Yuki to figure out that they've dipped their hands into the world of Elemental Magic.

What's so special about Erydexyals? They are mages who have reached the quintessential pinnacle of magic. An order of elite-class mages who've tapped into the real nature of Elyiere.

What that nature is, no one other than the Erydexyals themselves know of. Just as every little thing is kept under cover, no one can never hope to know what that is themselves–

–because of that damn Elemental Pact.」

“Awww~!!! I've been found out! I thought I could kill time and have a little fun showing them how to use magic. They wanted me to teach them, so I did. They're reeeeally good at it as well, Oji-san!”

“It doesn’t matter how good at magic they are. Their Valier Arts should come first before all else. I'll let you off this time since this is a minor issue. Just be glad the Elemental Pact isn’t being held even against you this time.”

「My crime was extentuated. Internally shocked, I honestly didn’t know whether it was intentional or just some lucky coincidence that with this timing, I was subject to exoneration.」

“Is it that serious~, I wonder~??”

“You're a Spiral Maiden, you should know better than to resort to such errant ways...”

「I could understand Yuuto-ojisan’s exasperation. It was all an act but then again, it’s not like he'd have known better. Just like that, I barely got away from more trouble with a simple reprimand.

Following this ordeal, both my cousins were taken away and their memories were sealed away through a pact. It was an indirect warning. No one should have let them touch Elemental Magic to begin with, and now they'd never be able to invoke Elemental Magic ever again until they've been released from their curse, whenever that'll be in the indefinite future.

This was on the 16th of Aqtiere, Year 725.」

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